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A worker packs the shelves of the computer shop PC World, at Croydon in south London, Aug. 23, 1995, with copies of the Microsoft Windows 95 computer package.

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer (L) and Bill Gates react to a question during a news conference, Jan. 13, 2000 in Redmond, Washington, where Gates announced that Ballmer will become the new chief executive officer.

Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer holds a placard checklist for the new Microsoft Office XP at a release party for the software on March 2, 2001, on the Microsoft Campus in Redmond, Washington.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com (L) meets with Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp. chairman and chief software architect, at a New York news conference to launch Microsoft's new software, Office XP, May 31, 2001.

Attendees of the Comdex computer show try out the new Microsoft XBox game, Nov. 13, 2001, at the Las Vegas Convention center.

Jeff Raikes, group vice president of the Productivity and Business Systems Group at Microsoft (L) jokes with Actor Rob Lowe, as he describes his experiences using a Tablet PC at the product launch event in New York City, Nov. 7, 2002.

Photographers surround the console of next generation video game and entertainment machine Xbox 360 during an unveiling in Tokyo, Japan, May 13, 2005.

Microsoft said on Jan. 22, 2009 in Redmond, Washingron it is cutting 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months - a sign of how badly even the biggest and richest companies are being stung by the recession. The layoffs appear to be a first for Microsoft, which was founded in 1975.

In this photograph taken by AP Images for Xbox, Actor Rich Sommer plays Kinect on Xbox 360 at the Xbox booth during the E3 2010 conference held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles on June 15, 2010.

Microsoft in Transition Photogallery

Published October 25, 2013

Microsoft surprised analysts and investors on October 24 when it posted a 17 percent increase in profits over the past three months. The profits come at a time of transition for the tech giant which recently reorganized itself as a “devices and services” company with two groups; one focusing on devices and consumer products and the other on commercial products.